TAMFT Board Statement on El Paso and Dayton Shootings

TAMFT Board Statement on El Paso and Dayton Shootings

TAMFT is deeply saddened by the shootings that occurred in El Paso, TX, and in Dayton, OH, last weekend. Our deepest condolences are with those individuals and families who were injured or whose lives were lost in these tragedies.

When violence is no longer an outlier and when incidents like these are more commonplace, we must reflect as a community on the systemic problems that contribute to them. As a professional community trained to discern mental and behavioral health from illness and its impact on marriages and families, it is deeply troubling that some continue to seek to blame acts of violence on mental illness. Although it is true that mental illness sometimes does precede violence, misrepresenting violence as the result of mental illness is an illusion. Mental illness already endures a worldwide stigma. It does not need uninformed projections to make it worse. We encourage you to keep working to erase the stigmas around mental illness and the need for individuals and families to seek care from licensed professionals.

As marriage and family professionals, many of us will be needed in our own state to help heal other Texans who have been affected by this and other tragic events. We encourage all of you to support those who are healing right now and explore the resources linked below. If you have other resources you use with clients facing violence and traumatic events, please feel free to link and share them in the comments section or within our community forum.